A- A- Auh- CHEW! By DL Larson

I'm not one to catch a cold easily, but this remodeling in the children's department at our library stirred up dirt from the last century. I dodged, I skipped, I tore out the rooms like a speeding bullet. I even wore a mask when cleaning up after the carpenters! But those dust mites were determined to cause havoc. Their efforts proved fruitful! I caught a cold!

I can't smell the fresh paint. I can't smell the new carpet. But my eyes have seen this new, improved children's department. My hands are rough and chapped from washing every shelf, chair and table with Murphy's soap. I started out with gloves, but that didn't last long. It's ridiculous to blow ones nose while wearing rubber gloves.

Tomorrow the rest of the shelving and tables will be returning. Much has been in storage off premises at our local golf club. Everything has been covered with plastic just as all the other pieces of furniture we stored at the library, but dirt has a way of finding its way in. I can only hope the Murphy's won't run out.

There have been many volunteers through this process and I appreciate all their time and effort. But when I pull the bucket of cleaning supplies out everyone seems to disappear. Or is it my cold they are running from?

In the solitude of cleaning it's just been me and the sunshine streaming through the windows I'm scrubbing. My mind wanders not to the mountain-size task of replacing thousands of books, but of my WIP. I've learned to edit without a computer, a trick I learned long ago. I know I will have to fix the story physically later, but in my mind the problem is solved, the resolution better than I had anticipated. The monotonous simplicity of scrubbing has let my mind wander to my real life's work.

That fuzzy feeling twitches my nose so I climb from my ladder and reach for a tissue. The sun makes my eyes water, the sneeze is close to blowing my head off, but I'm really quite happy multi-tasking. Another window is clean and I've fixed a hot spot in my manuscript.

The cold, ah, well, that has proved quite stubborn. Another few days and I will succeed in booting it out with the other dirt I'm dealing with. Til then, the tissue stays close.

Til next time ~

DL Larson